First Year Pays Off in Yellowtail Flounder Tagging Project2003/09/05 First Year Pays Off in Yellowtail Flounder Tagging Project

First Year

of Tagging Project

a Success

Contact:

Teri Frady, NOAA
508 495-2239

NR03.12

NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center

N E
W S

First Year
Pays Off
in Yellowtail Flounder Tagging Project

Woods Hole, MA  Six $100 rewards for tag returns have been handed
out and another 168 tags are in the $1,000 lottery as the first field
season for a massive yellowtail tagging project is drawing to a close.

Between June and August, federal scientists and commercial fishermen
tagged 7,665 yellowtail flounder off New England The final trip in
this year’s effort finished August 20 in Phippsburg, Maine. Tagging
is planned in other parts of the range later this year, and organizers
hope to tag thousands more fish in the second year of the project,
just funded by the Northeast Consortium, and beginning next Spring.

“All of our trips were outstanding,” said Steve Cadrin,
NOAA Fisheries study manager. “By working with commercial vessels
and experienced hands, we were able to make a good start. The study
really benefits from expert understanding about when and where fish
concentrate and how to maneuver among them.”

Tagging Georges Bank yellowtail flounder last July.

“All of our trips were outstanding,” said Steve
Cadrin, NOAA Fisheries study manager. “By working with
commercial vessels and experienced hands, we were able to make
a good start. The study really benefits from expert understanding
about when and where fish concentrate and how to maneuver among
them.”

The most fish were encountered during the offshore Georges Bank
trip, when more than 4,000 yellowtail were tagged in about six
days off the New Bedford-based F/V Trident, skippered by Rodney
Avila, Jr.

Vessel owner Rodney Avila, Sr. said of the project, “I believe
that we will get a lot of valuable information when these tags are
returned.” Avila said that on a recent regular groundfish trip
his vessel caught nine tagged yellowtail from the study. “All
of the fish were in good condition, showing that the survival rate
was good,” he said. “ I hope that we can gather information
about migration patterns and growth rate of these yellowtail. I firmly
believe that these kinds of projects only enhance the management of
these fisheries, and get fishermen thinking about the
future well being of the fisheries.”

Trip details and highlights are posted to the
study website: http://www.cooperative-tagging.org/

The 168 tag returns so far have occurred even as tagging was
ongoing. “We are very pleased with the returns to date,” said
Cadrin, “since these are critical to the success of any
tag-based project.” The organizers expect to get tag returns
over a span of years.

Examples
of tags.

Most returned tags are pink plastic discs that provide
information on fish location at tagging and re-capture. Three are the
more sophisticated data storage tags that provide more information
on what the fish was doing while at liberty. All returned data storage
tags, and some spcecially-marked disc tags, are good for immediate
$100 rewards. The rest of the tags are entered in a lottery in which
winning tags will net the returner $1,000.

“Data storage tags record temperature and depth,” says
Azure Westwood, NOAA fisheries project field manager. “It's too
early to draw any conclusions, but when we downloaded the information
from the three returned tags of this kind, we could detect tidal cycles
and off-bottom movements. Looking at recent Canadian data obtained
through a similar tagging project, as well as data from more returns
may help us better understand the vertical as well as horizontal movements
of these fish during their lives."

The project is intended to gather data on where fish go and how much
they move. With enough tag returns, researchers may also be able
to document whether mortality and growth rates vary in each area. Yellowtail
flounder are managed as three stocks. While the Georges Bank and
Cape
Cod stock components are fairly well documented, the degree of mixing
between stocks is not well known. There are few data on how, or how
much, fish move between waters off southern New England and the Mid-Atlantic
states.

In the second year of the project, organizers intend to tag thousands
more fish in an effort to cover most of the flounder’s range
in the Northeast. “We also hope to involve new vessels and crews
in the tagging trips,” said Cadrin. The federal tagging effort
will resume next spring, with tagging trips in the Gulf of Maine and
on Georges Bank.

A complementary yellowtail flounder tagging effort program is managed
by the University of Massachusetts School for Marine Science and Technology
(SMAST), and is planned for this Fall in the species’ Southern
New England/Mid-Atlantic stock component..

The yellowtail project is one of three large-scale cooperative tagging
projects ongoing in the region. The others are for Atlantic cod and
black sea bass. Partners in the yellowtail project include participating
fish harvesters, the University of Massachusetts SMAST, the Northeast
Consortium, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, the, Rhode
Island Division of Fish and Wildlife, the New Bedford Fishing Family
Assistance Center, the Manomet Center for Conservation Science and
the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Complete information on the tagging program and how to return tags
can be found on the study website. Found tags can be reported to (877)826-2612,
and mailed to YTF Tagging Project, 166 Water St., Woods Hole, MA 02543.
In addition to the tag and location (lat/long or Loran) of the capture,
finders should report date, depth of capture, and the length of the
fish. For instant winner tags (specially-marked pink disks and all
data storage tags), and specially-marked “scale sample” tags,
organizers also need a few scales, taken from near the tail, mailed
in with the tag.

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